NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Blue Jackets rising, Islanders at rock bottom

The Boston Bruins are clearly a better team than they were last season. Most of this is due to Tuukka Rask being arguably the second best goalie in the NHL behind Carey Price. And there’s no shame in being second to him. After struggling to score early on, they’re starting to normalize, rising to 2.44 goals per game. That’s still the ninth lowest mark in the NHL, but it’s an improvement. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak have been doing most of the heavy lifting on offense. Eventually, someone else has to start providing some secondary scoring. Boston fans should be thankful for the little ball of hate Marchand and Rask.

After a very rough week two weeks ago, the Blues have rebounded with a very strong week, winning three straight. Granted, they did only beat the Sabres, Predators, and Sharks. But it’s definitely something and they looked impressive in each of those wins. Vladimir Tarasenko keeps doing ridiculous things and has 19 points so far. Kevin Shattenkirk is raising the value of his next contract with 14 points. The Blues have very good forward depth and it’s certainly showing. About the only thing you could complain about is their goaltending. Blues fans should be thankful for Tarasenko and Shattenkirk, as well as the underrated contributions from David Perron and Paul Stastny.